


Strangers in the night

by Jixico



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-09-17 06:12:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16969197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jixico/pseuds/Jixico
Summary: Vile acts on impulses that Skulduggery won’t.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t read the most recent books so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Thanks to onelassieandherfandoms for yelling along with me, and for readin this first. MVP
> 
> It's been a long while since I've written anything at all

The great beast heaved above Valkyrie. A slathering, toothy mouth blew hot breath over her face. Great, mangled feet pushed into her chest, pinning her into the rocky ground. Air left her in a strangled scream. 

She bucked up, desperate for purchase, and managed to get her right arm free. Cut, bruised and bleeding, but free.

Gunshots sounded behind her, followed by a squelching thud as they found their mark in the second beast

“Skulduggery!” she rasped.  
Jaws descended on her head. It was all she could do to push against the gnashing teeth. They minced her hand, but kept that massive mouth inches from her head. For now. She chanced a glance up at Skulduggery. 

Things were not going well. 

The beast that faced off against skulduggery had his torso beneath a great talon. Its teeth were sunk into his abdomen and were in the process of ripping him in half.

Its hide was covered in scorch marks, though they looked like they troubled it little. Instead it oozed from several puncture wounds, some no wider than a bullet hole, other like it had been stabbed with a power pole.

Skulduggery whipped at it with sharpened air in desperation, drilling holes into its thick skin. It looked futile, and Valkyrie could hear bones popping from sockets one by one. 

She had an idea to help, but it wasn’t going to be pretty. She steeled herself for a world of hurt. 

Still fending off sharp teeth, she worked her wild magic around her until it was just crackling light. A small force field shimmered around her, and with all her will she pushed out. The incredibly heavy beast must have been taken off guard, because she managed just enough room to not only pull her arm free, but also bring her legs up in front of her before the shield fizzled into air. 

Quickly, before she was pinned once more, she pushed her legs against the beasts foot, scooting herself backwards a little. It wasn’t much, but with luck it would do. 

She lifted both arms above her head, gaze set on Skulduggery and summoned all she could into a roiling blast of sparks. It crashed through the air like a wave, streaking right towards the other creature. 

But before she saw her blow land she felt pain. 

Teeth as big as her forearm sunk into her upper torso. She screamed as they punctured her ribs, though a small part of her knew that without the extra scooting it would have crushed her head like a watermelon instead. 

It picked her up with its jaws and shook her like a dog with a toy. 

Blood rushed to her head and pounded in her ears. She felt something snap painfully, though she wasn’t sure what. 

Next thing she was hurtling through the air. She landed on stones with a crunch. Head rattled painfully, she opened her eyes in time to see the great lumbering thing crashing towards her. 

Just as those jaws were about to descend on her once again, there was a sudden crash. The beast seized up, and it began to fall. On top of her. 

She heard Skulduggery yell her name before everything was crushed, and darkness fell on her. 

 

White lightning burst through the creature’s chest. 

Valkyrie burnt up like a nuclear bomb. 

She sucked in air. She opened her eyes, but lights swam in front of her vision. She put out a hand and felt fleshy ooze. 

“Oh man.” She wheezed

“Valkyrie!” Skulduggery yelled, flying toward her. 

He reached into what was now a burnt out pit in the middle of the beast’s smoking body. He pulled her out, and she staggered on heavy legs. They gave out, and he held her up bodily.

“Mr Pleasant I don’t feel so good” 

“Valkyrie, as much as I really enjoy your ability to quote movies I’ve never seen, I wish you’d do it at times when you’re less grievously injured. Oh, that’s quite a lot of blood.”

“Yep. Ribs. Super broken. Avengers was great.”

“I’m sure it was. Should I scold you for being reckless now, or later?”

“Not. Now. Dizzy.”

Skulduggery lifted her shirt up to see the punctures and swore. He put his head to her chest, and at that moment she recognised how much her breath was rattling. 

“Alright, definitely later. Valkyrie, we’re going to fly now.”

She gave him a weak thumbs up and let herself be bundled into his arms. He held her tightly and they rose up. Then the scene of the carnage was below them, 5 lumbering beasts with chunks blown out littering the rocky crag. Then they shot forward and in moments it was all behind them.

The weakness from overloading herself with magic was gradually replaced with weakness from blood loss. 

“Nap” Valkyrie wheezed over the buffeting of the wind. 

“No, no naps. Naps are banned. Hey. Valkyrie?”

But still her head lolled. Nothing could stop the dark from rolling in on her consciousness. Before she fell into oblivion, she caught the sight of a tendril of black snaking out from a tear in skulduggery’s shirt. Its cool touch soothed the ache of her lacerated hand, and she fell, fell, fell.


	2. Chapter 2

Valkyrie woke with a start, flailing her limbs from under tightly tucked sheets before realising where she was. Cold lights shone down at her from the ceiling, illuminating white walls, white bed sheets and linoleum floors. A figure stood at the window, silhouetted beside open curtains. 

“Hey” She croaked.

Skulduggery turned. He had cleaned himself up since their encounter. His shredded clothes had been replaced with clean ones, carefully pressed and wrinkle-free. A crisp, deep purple shirt, black suit jacket. Dark gloves that showed slightly purple in the daylight. The height of masculine elegance, as bloody usual. 

“You’re awake. Though I should have noticed the moment you stopped snoring.”

“I don’t snore. I’m an elegant lady and I won’t hear otherwise.”

“I certainly won’t mention the smell then.”

Valkyrie pushed herself so she could sit up, and winced as her broken ribs crunched with the movement. She made a note not to breathe too deeply, at least until the healing had more time to work its magic. She gingerly lifted her shirt and grimaced. Skulduggery put his hands in his pockets.

“You’re looking very colourful”

He was right. A rainbow of purples, yellows and reds bloomed across her torso between the various bandages and poultices. Someone had removed her bra, a fact that she was grateful for, but also grumpy about. It was one of her better ones, they better not have thrown it out. 

“Guess this time I’ll be in for a little while huh? Did you find out how many broken ribs?”

“Six”

Valkyrie whistled.

“Wow, new record. At least I’ll have some company.” 

Skulduggery’s dissatisfied hum felt slightly off. Was he upset? Of course he was. The tension in the way he held his hat in those gloved fingers told her all she needed to know, and the way he held his head made the shadows in his eye sockets seem darker. 

Shadows. Valkyrie remembered that tendril of shadow and looked down at her injured hand. 

“You all right?”

“Yeah. I just remembered this hand was super slashed up. I was holding its jaws off me with one arm. You should have seen it, I was pretty cool.”

“Shame I was occupied being torn limb from limb. Next time I’ll be sure to ask the terrifying monster to wait politely so you can show me your cool new trick.”

“You seem crabbier than usual. Probably because you missed the one-time-only show.”

Skulduggery sighed, but had no clever retort. 

Valkyrie spent a little time very interested in her injured hand, flexed it carefully to test the healing. She could recall the ghost of the feeling, coolness pooling in her palm.

“So. Skulduggery. Was there something that you need to talk about?”

The slightest tilt of the head. Confusion.

“Was there something *you* need to talk about, Valkyrie?”

She screwed up her nose. Weighed the pros and cons.  
It’s probably fine. Skul had Lord Vile under control. It’s never been an issue. And if it was an issue he’d tell her. In fact, she was so beat up she probably imagined it. She’d taken a few blows to the head. Blood loss. Whatever. 

“Know what? It’s fine.”

His silent pause told her her lie wasn’t enough. Her brain searched for something believable.

“The uh. Monsters. You killed them all? I blacked out.”

Another moment passed. She searched his body language for some form of recognition. His shoulders held tension. Was it concern?   
She knew those empty sockets searched her face for something too. 

“Yes in fact. In a strange twist of fate it seems they were oddly susceptible to rocks being launched at high velocity into their brains.”

“Weird”

“Tough creatures. I’m personally hoping that was the last of them. Two of my favourite shirts in two days is too big a toll”

Skulduggery sadly shook his head. Val suddenly became very aware of how many broken ribs she had. Two shirts huh? Massive toll, really. 

“You have favourite shirts? But you ruin them so often.”

“Not the point.”

“But really, the light blue pin stripe one? It’s so…”  
She made a face. 

She waited in anticipation of the answering quip. None came.   
She noticed him glance at the clock in her room.

“I have to go.”

“What? But I just woke up. I thought we were going to banter until you lulled me into a false sense of security. Then you’d hit me with the ‘That was dangerous Valkyrie, you almost died Valkyrie.””

She stared as he got up and put on his hat. 

“Really? We’re not doing any of that?”

“China wants to see me.”

“Uh. Okay? Sure. Well… bye I guess.”

“I’ll be back when you’re better” He said with a wave of his hand.

He strolled out her door, smart shoes tapping on linoleum, and she watched him go. 

Then her eyes slid to his shadow and the way it stretched towards her. It almost reached her bed before falling short as if reaching its tether. It clung to every object on the way out and stretched like elastic as it was wrenched away with every footstep. It roiled in frustration as it was dragged beyond the threshold and receded into the corridor. 

Valkyrie bit her lip.   
Something was definitely wrong with her Skeleton Detective.


	3. Chapter 3

“Skulduggery, I’m staying at your place tonight.” Valkyrie announced from the passenger seat of the Bentley. 

Her time alone in the healing ward had given her time to think. Now that her injuries had mostly healed she also had a vague course of action. Her ribs still ached in that way that was a little delicious, but other than that she felt good. She took the opportunity to stretch her arms above her head and take a deep breath.

“I don’t even get an option to say no these days” He said with a mockingly sad shake of his head.

“Of course not. What would you even be doing that I couldn’t stay over?”

“I’m…. washing my hair tonight.”

“You goon. Though, you still own that fuzzy orange wig, don’t you?”

He shot her a look that might have been venomous if he had any eyeballs. 

“My skull then.” 

“It’s settled, I’m staying the night.”

Skulduggery sighed, but flicked the indicator at the turn off that went towards his house. 

“I could help you wash your skull. There’s a spot you always miss, right at the back, underneath your… thingy.”

“Occipital bone?”

“Sure. We’ll go with that”

He muttered something about being very thorough, but it barely registered. For a moment she thought she saw a flicker of shadow near the back of his neck, but it was gone before she could be certain it was really there at all. 

“Occipital bone…” She murmured.

\---

 

Valkyrie lay in bed. She checked the time again. 1:43am. Surely that would be enough time? 

She took another deep, slow breath. Skulduggery had been an elemental for a long time, he did things subconsciously. On previous nights, when she’d lain awake for hours begging for any kind of sleep, even when she didn’t toss, he’d stop by her room. Sometimes with a glass of water, or an extra blanket. Valkyrie could only guess he sensed her breathing.

Slow breaths. In.   
Check the time again. 1:45am.  
Slow exhale. 

She turned her head and concentrated her aura vision, searching for that red glow. It was there, pulsing gently in what she knew to be the living room. Was it a little dimmed compared to when he was awake? It was hard to tell. She wasn’t in the habit of watching people meditating. She decided to give it another 10 minutes. 

At nearly 2am Valkyrie snuck down to the living room. Her bare feet padded silently down the stairs. Her ears strained for any sign that her very presence had betrayed her and alerted her friend, but no noise came. She rounded the corner to the living room to see him barely illuminated in light from the kitchen – Probably left on for her benefit.

He sat upright in his arm chair. He didn’t wear his suit jacket, and his shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows. His hands were glove free, and were placed palm up on the arm rests. For anyone else Valkyrie would think they were awake. But for Skulduggery this pose held much more calm than he ever did during the day. Yes, he was often still, sometimes eerily so. Even in his still moments he was a wound spring and ready to pounce at a moments notice. Here he was relaxed. No tension in his shoulders, head slightly bowed and practically glowing in the low light. 

She slipped a little closer, starting to wonder what the plan really was after all.

Something touched her ankle. 

She clapped her hand on her mouth to suppress a yelp and stumbled back. Jerked her gaze downward. 

There was nothing there at first glance. She took a moment to breathe out her nose. She lowered herself to the floor and got to her hands and knees. She checked under the couch. Nothing that she could see. It was too dark in the shadows of the furniture to see much at all. 

She sat back on her knees. And then she saw it. 

A lean tendril of black, only discernible from the shadows by its movement. It curled lazily along the carpet maybe a foot away from her. She shuffled a little closer. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. Couldn’t Skulduggery hear it? Necromancy was a terrifyingly strong area of magic. This was Lord Vile. He could tear her to shreds. She swallowed, remembering these same scraps of shadow ripping into her flesh as Darquesse. But Skulduggery would hear her if she yelled.   
It would be fine. 

Despite her better judgement she found herself inching a little closer. 

“Hello?” She whispered to the night air.

The shadow shot out at her as soon as she was within reach. Valkyrie made to scramble back but the shadow was quicker. It lanced towards her. Just before impact it vaporised into dark specks in the air that drifted down to settle on her bare skin like dew. It was cold as flecks of ice. It collected in beads which dripped down her arms to pool at her right hand. She shivered. The hairs on her arms stood on end.

She felt a gentle pressure and turned her palm upward. The shadow settled into her cupped palm. It dripped through the cracks in her fingers and attached to the floor like spiderweb. Valkyrie tried to withdraw her hand but met resistance. The spiderweb shadows tugged at her, pulling towards the sleeping figure of Skulduggery. 

“All right. I get it.”

She rose to her feet. With every small step shadows pooled around her feet. They began to rise like smoke around her knees. It sent a shiver up her spine. 

She was close enough to Skulduggery that she could reach out and touch him. Darkness bled from every crease of his clothing and it all rose to meet her. 

A smoky tendril crept from her leg to trail up her side. 

It lifted under her night shirt and grazed her belly. She gasped at the chill, screwed her eyes closed. It didn’t stop there. It caressed her toned stomach and gave pause when it met her rib cage. It snaked around her chest, almost leaping point to point in a rounded trail to meet her spine. It encircled her and then melted away. Valkyrie opened her eyed. The face in front of her was no longer a skull, but a blanket of black in the vague shape of an armoured helmet.

“That’s where the creature bit me” She whispered to Lord Vile.

Vile did not nod. Simply stared at her in complete stillness. Judging. Waiting for something.

She reached a hand out to touch his cheek. 

Suddenly, like a glass tipped out, the shadows slipped away. 

“Valkyrie?”

She stood in the living room with a hand on Skulduggery’s cheek.

Fuck, the plan. The plan! It could still work. It was genius, and covered all possibilities of failure. Because Valkyrie was extraordinarily clever. 

“Skulduggery.” She said, keeping that loathsome tremble out of her voice.   
“The milk is off.” 

“Ah. And you woke me up for that?”

“I drank some. It was gross. You’ve gotta suffer because I suffered.” 

“Right. Tomorrow we’ll buy fresh milk.”

“Night Skulduggery”

She turned tail and strode away from him as calmly as she could, using all her willpower not to race up the stairs.

“Night.”

Even when she flopped into bed she tried to keep it cool. He could sense her. Keep it cool. Deep breath in. Slow breath out. 2:10am. 

Lord Vile in their living room.  
It’s fine. It’s fine!   
It’s definitely not fine. 

Oh boy.


	4. Chapter 4

What was it about Valkyrie that made people so desperately desire to kill her? 

She wondered this as she rolled out of the way of a blast of sharpened air. It missed her narrowly and smashed into the kitchen tiles, blowing up ceramic shards all around her. 

“Stop it!” She shouted to the woman that stood in the dining room across the way. 

“No!” Yelled Eyrie Parkour “You stop it!”

The auburn haired woman whipped her hands forward and upward and Valkyrie cursed.*

The shards began to rise and whip around her. Valkyrie lunged for a chopping board that clattered to the floor in their previous scuffles. She held it up just in time to feel the thud thud thud of the shards into the wood. 

“I’m not doing anything!” 

Valkyrie leapt over the bench toward her and braced against it to push off and launch forward. Countering, Eyrie sent a wall of wind to buffet her backwards. At the last moment Valkyrie turned sideways into it so that it wouldn’t slam the air out of her lungs. She wasn’t prepared for the sheer strength of the wave and it knocked her back into the marble countertop. Her waist jammed into the corner, her head bashed on the surface. A knife very nearly skewered her arm, but her protective clothing absorbed the impact. 

Valkyrie grabbed the knife and pegged it at the woman. Eyrie yelped and swatted it aside with a gust. She took the moment of distraction to dash forward out of the kitchen, into the dining room. 

Eyrie dropped into a stance and pushed the air. Valkyrie dropped too. Her arm whipped out to grab the leg of the dining table. Valkyrie hoped it was as heavy and solid as it looked.

The air hit her like a wall. With white knuckles, she held on. Velvet seated chairs flew at her. She raised her other arm to shield her face. She drew up magic and cocooned it around her. Thick wooden legs bounced off her shield, sending off sparks of gold. 

There was a break in the wind as Eyrie changed stance to launch another attack. Valkyrie scrambled to her feet and made a break for Eyrie. 

She tackled the women and they both went crashing into a china cabinet. They rolled, but Valkyrie managed to keep on top. Valkyrie raised a hand. Eyrie’s fingers made a tearing motion. The air in Valkyrie’s lungs became heavy and still. Her chest spasmed in a cough that wouldn’t come. No oxygen was getting in or out. Her eyes flew wide and the two stared at each other, both a little shocked at such a move. Valkyrie’s eyes narrowed.

Valkyrie snapped the heel of her palm into Eyrie’s chin. And then again. And again for good measure. 

Eyrie’s hands lost tension. Her head lolled back. 

Valkyrie sucked in a breath. She hacked out a cough while pulling hand cuffs from her jacket pocket. They snapped around Eyrie’s right hand with a click.

Her left hand came up and slapped Valkyrie across the face. 

“You don’t want to do that.” She hissed.

Valkyrie snatched that hand and snapped it to the other one. Eyrie groaned. 

“Eyrie Parkour, I’m arresting you for being a massive idiot. I literally came here to ask you three questions about Scrappy Fosters and you decided to be a drama queen about it, and also tried to impale me.”

“Scrappy didn’t send you?” 

“….what? God no, I’m a sanctuary agent. Wow. You must be the only sorcerer in Ireland who doesn’t know who I am."  
"Wow." She repeated. "I almost feel kind of bad for you.” 

Valkyrie pulled the poor idiot to her feet and hauled her off. 

 

Skulduggery met with Valkyrie at the sanctuary. He took one look at her and tilted his head in curiosity.

“Eyrie is very stupid, but is also a very strong air elemental.” Valkyrie explained.

“Oh.” He said. “Is that why you have quinoa in your hair?”

She swore and began combing beetroot and pumpkin quinoa salad out of her locks. 

“But the strong elemental thing, that would also explain the blood.”

She frowned, touched two fingers to her forehead. They came back red. She sighed. 

“I didn’t even notice. God I need a shower.”

Skulduggery brushed a piece of pumpkin from her shoulder. 

“It’ll have to wait. While you were wrestling health foods I stumbled across Scrappy Fosters’ head goon. One Anthology Quicken. We’ve got some work left to do before you can go home.”

She rubbed her face wearily.

“It’s fine. I’ll duck past the medical wing and come join you.”

And she did. 

 

It was a few long hours until they wearily made their way together to skulduggery’s house. It was past midnight and Valkyrie was dead tired. She’d rather have slept at Gordon’s (she had leftover pizza in the fridge), but Skulduggery’s was closer, and the bed was just as comfortable. 

Valkyrie lurched up the stairs to her room, and began peeling off her clothes. 

In a strange twist of fate, Scrappy Fosters had very little to do with anything at all. He was a cover, a scapegoat. Quicken was the brains behind the operation, and had lead them on a merry goose chase. 

Valkyrie popped the lid off the jar of rocks she kept for occasions such as these, and picked out a large one. She applied it to a few choice spots on her tired, bruised body. Her head throbbed. She put the rock to her forehead to ease the knock she’d gotten when that idiot Eyrie slammed her into the counter. It wasn’t a major injury, but it had developed into a headache that was reluctant to leave her alone. 

She made for the shower and turned on the steaming water. She tested it with her hand and watched the blood on her knuckles wash away with satisfaction. 

Most of that blood wasn’t hers. She wondered if Quicken could still feel the blow she’d landed on his nose. 

She slipped the rest of herself into the shower and let it melt away all her thoughts. 

She emerged shiny and pink. She barely slipped on some underwear and a sleeping shirt before collapsing into the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The curse word she said was Fuck. Let Valkyrie say fuck 2k19


	5. Chapter 5

Sleep visited Valkyrie patchily, as usual. She didn’t mind. She was glad for it, even if it only stayed for a little while. She was well used to lying awake in the dark, reflecting, letting her body rest when her mind couldn’t.

She rolled over. She wasn’t sure how long that scrap of sleep had been. She now felt very awake. 

She sighed. And rolled over again. She faced the door and lay there with open eyes. There was no point in trying to force it. If sleep wanted to return, it would. So she lay and stared at the only thing of interest: the soft strip of light that shone from under her door. 

How many nights had she done this? She lost count years ago. 

The light dimmed. Something had stepped between her door and the dimmed lamp that they left on in the corridor.

“Hey Skul,” She murmured. “Is that a glass of water?”

There was no answer. 

“I’m awake,” She said, a little louder this time. “You can come in.”

The door didn’t open and the shadow didn’t move. 

Valkyrie sat up.

“Skulduggery…?”

The shadow at the door elongated. It pooled under the door and seeped through the crack. The shadows lengthened. They rose up in curls of smoke, then with a cold woosh of air, he shadow walked in. 

Lord Vile stood tall and still in her bedroom.

He wasn’t wearing his full armour. The darkness covered the skeleton underneath like a thick coat of paint, and like paint it dripped off of him. His head still carried the vague shape of that spiked helmet. 

Valkyrie stared at him.

“Hi.” She said. 

Lord Vile took a step towards her.

“I don’t suppose *you* have a glass of water.”

He tilted his head, but didn’t stop walking. 

He paused when he reached her. He lifted his arm, cold tendrils curling off it like smoke. He reached for her. Valkyrie’s fists balled under her blanket. She summoned sparks of magic that she hoped he couldn’t see. 

A cool tendril of shadow caressed her cheek. She flinched. It was gentle, but so cold. His fingers touched her hair experimentally. When she didn’t flinch away, he combed his fingers through it and let it fall slinkily back. It fell in her face and she quickly tucked it back behind her ear. 

The silence felt uncomfortable. Part of her knew that this was still Skulduggery, and the uncanny silence was eerily out of character. It set her teeth on edge.

“I got all the quinoa out.”

His hand reached out again. Icy fingertips touched her forehead. The cool sensation felt nice for a moment, soothing. 

“That Parkour woman was a strong elemental. It caught me completely off guard. It still hurts a little. She tried to choke me you know.”

Vile’s back shot out with black spines. They roiled like angry snakes. The temperature of the room dropped and Valkyrie suppressed a shiver. 

“Only a little. It’s fine! Hey, calm down.”

She held out her hands, palm towards him in supplication. Shadows enveloped them up to her elbows and yanked her forward. His blank visor was inches away from her face. Cold radiated off him in waves, like she’d stuck her head next to an open freezer. 

“It’s fine. Are we fine?”

He held her there, scrutinising her. Valkyrie tried not to look at the way his shadows rose up and jerked angrily behind him. It made her nervous. Would Skulduggery come out if she yelled? It had never been that simple before. But this wasn’t Lord Vile really, not properly. This wasn’t his armour, as far as she knew, just whatever lay sleeping in Skulduggery when he let his guard down. He was there, within arms reach. She should shout, should get him out now, before things got out of hand. But she didn’t.

She felt a cool trickle run up her sleeve. Another came up her other arm and she glanced down. 

The cold shadow-tendrils were snaking up her arms and under her shirt. They smoothed along her collarbones, around her neck, and down the corded muscles of her bare back. They dipped into the ridge of her spine and dripped down the length of it. They paused at her tailbone as if shy and then altered course to her waist. The shadows encircled her waist slowly. They lingered at her left side, where she’d slammed into the counter that morning. The cold felt nice, like an icepack on her stiff muscles. The healing had taken the edge off, but there was always a remainder that was left to sort itself out naturally. 

The grip on her waist tightened and yanked her closer to him. 

“Whoa, easy.” She said, and then noticed how his shadows had calmed to gentle wisps. 

“Are you… checking up on me? I told you, I’m fine.” 

Valkyrie’s cheeks burned hot while her skin burned cold. She was beginning to feel a little self conscious, and tried to wriggle out of his grip. 

Vile’s head snapped up. His shadows grew sharp and leapt away from her waist. Valkyrie opened her mouth to calm him. Shadow surged down her throat and she gagged. She flailed, kicked at him, fell out of her bed. She summoned magic in her fists and pushed it at him. It knocked Vile in the head and he recoiled. The shadows slipped from her throat. Valkyrie’s stomach lurched and she desperately tried not to hurl.

Valkyrie reared again, pulling more magic into her. She got ready to lunge a punch, but Vile wasn’t within range.

In fact, he was on the opposite side of the room. She held the magic in her fist. Wild shadows danced in the corners from the light of her sparks, but Vile stood still. 

They just surveyed each other as the light in her hand died down. As Valkyrie released the last of the energy she was holding, Vile disappeared in a plume of darkness. 

She strode to the door, adrenaline pumping in her veins. She ripped it open then stopped. 

Sitting on the floor in front of her door was a glass of water. She picked it up and examined it. Condensation beaded on the glass’ surface. It was ice cold.

“What,” Valkyrie breathed “the fuck.”

She closed the door and retreated back into her room. She set the water on her side table. She put her head in her hands. 

The situation had upgraded from odd and concerning to downright insane.   
Tomorrow she’d talk to Skulduggery. There was nothing else to do. 

Valkyrie lay in the dark watching that glowing strip of light under her door until the sun rose. The thought of sleep didn’t even cross her mind.


	6. Chapter 6

Valkyrie tottered out of her room after the sun rose. Her dragging feet almost tripped on the stairs, but her hand caught the guard rail before she fell head over heels into a heap. Though maybe the bottom of the stairs might be comfortable. Maybe she could have a nap there. 

Valkyrie slapped her cheeks. If they somehow made it past midday without getting into strife she would curl up on the couch and lounge in the sun til she fell asleep. That would be nice. It was a warm thought in her head. She glanced at the couch as she padded by, but the weak morning sunbeams scattered the room in cold strips of blue. Noon was a few hours away yet so she dragged herself to the kitchen.

Skulduggery was already there pulling food from the fridge. Valkyrie slumped onto the bench stool and rested her forehead on the counter. She heard him place a bowl next to her head, and a glass. 

“You look well rested.” He commented.

Valkyrie grunted and took up her spoon. 

“Did you have a nightmare or was it something else?”

Skulduggery waited while Valkyrie shovelled cornflakes into her mouth. She noticed the milk in the bowl was fresh. The juice was not. She drank it anyway. 

“Nah. I had a visitor last night.”

“That big moth again? I told you if he came back I wouldn’t shoo him out for you. His persistence should be rewarded. He lives here now. His name has been added to the rental agreement.”

“Mm." She shook her head. "You don't rent. But no, not the moth. Though now that you mention it, he is *sort of* like a moth.”

“He?”

Skulduggery’s voice held a note of concern. Was it that he thought someone had broken into the house and avoided his notice? Or did he know more than he let on?

Valkyrie concentrated on the cornflakes. Contrary to logic it was easier to speak while her mouth was full.

“Yeah,” She slurped, “I guess he’s sort of like a moth, Lord Vile.”

Skulduggery stilled.

“Lord Vile?”

“Lord Vile.” She confirmed “He’s a similar colour to a moth. About as quiet as a moth.”

“Valkyrie. Don’t joke.”

She sucked on her spoon. “I wasn’t.” 

“Lord Vile was with you?”

She choked on a cornflake.

“W-with me?”   
She skulled the last of her juice. Took a moment to swallow back her embarrassment, and push back the thought of his shadowy tendrils pulling her close to him.  
“He came up to my room.”

Skulduggery strode over to her side of the counter. He looked at her, hard. Valkyrie couldn’t help but squirm under the gaze of those empty sockets. 

“What are you doing?”

“Checking you over. He didn’t hurt you.” 

“Skulduggery I’m fine! He just said hello, that’s all.” 

“Lord Vile doesn’t just say hello. Vile stabs people until they fall apart. He tears off heads for fun. He doesn’t pop over in the middle of the night to say hello.”

Valkyrie shrugged non-committaly. 

“I don’t know what to tell you then.”

Skulduggery’s head tilted. He folded his arms.

“Why don’t you start by telling me exactly what happened?”

She grimaced. Valkyrie put down her spoon and turned her stool to face her partner head on.

“Lord Vile snuck into my room. At first I thought it was you, I basically welcomed him in. He didn’t try to kill me. It was like he was looking for injuries or something. I mentioned that Eyrie Parkour tried to choke me and he leaped down my throat.”

“That’s….. disconcerting.” 

“Yeah! So I freaked the hell out, kicked him in the chest. The guy wasn’t even mad. He just shadow walked out.”

“And he didn’t try to rip your head off.”

Valkyrie gestured at her neck.

“Still very attached!”

Skulduggery nodded thoughtfully.

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

He nodded again.

“Well?” She prompted.

“Well it’s still not good. You being around Lord Vile twice within the last week isn’t good.”

“Twice?” She said nervously.

“Valkyrie, it amazes me that we’ve been together for so long and yet you still forget that I’m a detective. I knew something was afoot when the milk was only a day off. I’ve seen you chug what was well on its way to being sour cream.”

“You have not! That’s disgusting.”

“And now you’re denying the milk thing but not the fact that Lord Vile has visited you twice.”

Valkyrie sighed. She rested her chin in her hands. 

“Well there’s not much point in denying it. You’ve actually had shadows slipping out on their own for days now. I thought that maybe it was just stress but…”

Valkyrie bit her lip.

“This is a problem, isn’t it?”

“Possibly.”

“Well? You can’t just say ‘Possibly’ and then stand there like a statue.”

“I can. It’s something I do.”

“And it’s very annoying.”

“Is it?”

Valkyrie huffed, and got up to rinse her bowl. There was no dealing with him when he was like this. Or rather, there was, but Valkyrie didn’t have the energy for it. That sunny spot in the lounge room was whispering sweet promises to her in the back of her mind. It was hard to stay focussed. 

It was obvious to her that their talk had unsettled him. It was no wonder, really. His alter ego was skulking about without supervision. Vile was unpredictable. And Valkyrie had no ideas on how to deal with the issue aside from not allowing Skulduggery to meditate. Meditation for him wasn’t like sleep, it wasn’t a necessity. Valkyrie had noticed however that when he missed a few days he was a little less sharp and little more reckless. He was less fun to be around. Perhaps a little crabby. She wondered if it was just the ritual of it that kept him centred or if there was more to it. 

Valkyrie had tried meditating. The emptiness that she was supposed to find only made room for her darker thoughts to barge in. 

“I've decided on a course of action.” He said finally when she sat back in her stool.

“Oh? What are we doing?”

“*We* aren’t doing anything. *I* am going to do some things while *you* stay well away.”

Valkyrie made to protest but he held up a hand.

“Vile clearly has some kind of fixation on you. We have no guarantee that next time he won’t try to rip your arms off and beat you to death with them. And you are…. well, you’re a mess.”

“I’m just resting my eyes. The sunlight hurts.”

“You’ve had a rough few nights. Maybe some time at Gordon’s will do you good.”

Valkyrie just shrugged. He was right. She felt horrible. Things had just been compounding for a little while and she hadn’t been dealing with it. 

“You’ll get the Sanctuary to leave me alone for a day or two?”

“They know where to shove it by now.”

Valkyrie laughed. 

“Alright. But really, what are you going to do?”

“It’s a secret.” He said, leaving the room to fetch his hat. “Now let me drop you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as a babby writer doin 1k words at a time is about as good as it gets  
> go me!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what we're all here for my dudes. We're taking a leap right out of canon and into the deep end of... whatever you call this. Enjoy!

Valkyrie stretched in the setting sun. Golden late afternoon light poured through the bay windows of Gordon’s house to warm her taut muscles. Her long blue shadow mirrored her as she transitioned out of downward dog into a deep lunge. The stretch didn’t burn any of her muscles; it was her joints that complained as her tendons drew tight like a bow. She entered the warrior pose and drew a deep breath. She let it out slow. 

It was ten minutes later, when she was halfway through a bridge pose, pelvis pushed towards the roof and shoulders supporting her weight, that she gave up. Simply slumped to the floor and lay back. She was supposed to wrap up the exercise with fifteen minutes of meditation, but she lay on her back playing Angry Birds. It was roughly equivalent. Until she dropped her phone on her face. 

Valkyrie was in a mood. She couldn’t settle on anything. She’d eventually had that nap she’d so wished for, though on her own couch instead of Skulduggery’s. She’d had woken up sweaty and grumpy. So she’d eaten early, and showered, and now she was out of ideas. 

Valkyrie slumped on her bed, half dressed and partially damp. Her laptop sat in front of her. She’d been scrolling through netflix recommendations for what felt like hours but nothing jumped out at her. So she stowed it under her bed and stared at the ceiling. 

The white paint was tinted purple from the sunset. It was pretty, but it faded quickly. The sun soon ducked behind neighbouring houses, and then the horizon. It left the room feeling cold and empty. 

Very cold. Valkyrie shivered. She reached for her blanket, but caught something in the corner of her eye. 

She sat bolt upright.

Just outside her window floated a black figure. His silhouette softly undulated against the darkening sky. 

Valkyrie scrambled to her feet. She tripped on her bed sheet which had fallen on the floor and skidded to the window.

“You,” she hissed, “Need to either get in or go away. There are people out there walking dogs and stuff. They’ll see you.”

Vile’s head tilted. He turned and surveyed the street below. Valkyrie swallowed and peeked out. It was blessedly empty. She raised her eyebrows at him.

He disappeared in smoke bomb of shadow and reappeared on her side of the window. Valkyrie tried to rub the goosebumps out of her arms. 

“How long were you out there for anyway?” She asked.

Vile did not reply. He simply observed her as she quickly cleaned some of the crap off her floor. A wet towel was thrown into the ensuite, clothes were put into piles. She didn’t bother cleaning up when it was Skulduggery. But with Lord Vile? He felt imposing. And if she was forced to fight him here she’d rather not slip on a pair of dirty knickers. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow move. Her knees bent reflexively, ready to leap out of the way of a strike. The shadows gathered in a pool. They grew and stretched, then swept out like a wave. It rolled from one end of the room to the other, picking up shoes and empty water bottles in its wake. It carried them like sticks on the tide and pushed them all to one wall. 

“Oh. Uh, thanks.”

Vile didn’t tell her she was welcome. Valkyrie stood in the middle of the room awkwardly. She put her hands on her hips, but then decided that was stupid and put them back at her sides. Vile walked towards her.

“You’re not going to jump down my throat again, are you?”

He paused. He lifted a hand and shadows lifted with it. They snaked up to her shoulder height and slowly reached for her. A point of cold came into contact with her neck, then trailed up her throat. It touched the side of her mouth. Valkyrie swallowed. She tried to lean away.

“Not going to lie, I didn’t enjoy that a whole lot last time. Would appreciate if you didn’t do it again.” 

The shadow immediately descended the way it came, relinquishing its touch completely with a flick at her collarbone. 

“Thanks.”

Vile tilted his head in that Skulduggery way. It unsettled her. He took a few steps closer. 

Valkyrie bit her lip. He was close enough now that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. She wasn’t completely sure if she felt safe. Part of her brain was screaming at her to run, remembering all the terrible things he had done. The more measured part told her his recent behaviour had nothing to do with tearing people apart. He was curious, he wanted to touch and to test boundaries. The reckless part of her wanted to see where this was going. What was Skulduggery hiding from her? Was this part of his plan? She needed to know. 

“You were feeling for my healed injuries before, weren’t you? Look.” She lifted the bottom of her shirt to her chest. 

“All better. See? You can only barely see the scars. They healed really well.”

Valkyrie looked down at her own stomach, and turned this way and that. The punctures from the beast teeth were just shiny pink flesh, but other scars marked her body. Some she was proud of: she and Tanith had crowed over their battle scars together once. Most she barely even remembered. 

A black jagged finger touched just below her navel. She stilled. It traced upward, following a faint line that bisected most of the length of her torso. She remembered that scar. It was from when Nye gutted her like a fish.

“Nye.” She spat. 

Vile’s shadows grew sharp. The cold shadows that trailed from him moved erratically, roiling over themselves like a bundle of snakes.

His finger kept moving up her body. When it reached the confines of her shirt it didn’t stop. Valkyrie tried to say something but wasn’t quick enough. She shadows slashed her shirt to ribbons which fell to the floor. 

“Whoa, easy! I liked that shirt! You- I mean, Skulduggery is going to have to buy me a new one. When I tell him about this. God, that’s going to be a weird conversation.” 

Vile tilted his head. 

His hand moved from just below her bra to the left side of her chest. Cold fingers rested on her flesh. 

“Oh. Nye’s scar, then my heart. Where Nye carved his runes into me. This is about Darquesse, isn’t it?”

Valkyrie wrapped her arms around herself. She felt very naked. Very cold.

“You know she’s gone, don’t you? We aren’t the same any more.”

She stared at that blank mask of darkness. It held the shape of a helmet like a memory that faded in and out of recollection. He turned to the left. Then to the right.

“No? I don’t understand.”

His shadows grew tense again. They flicked and writhed. 

His fingers still lay above her heart. She wondered if he could feel it leap in apprehension. Those shadows were so close. If he chose to attack she wouldn’t have much time to dodge out of the way. He could skewer her with a single gesture.

A tendril of shadow rose. It touched her side. She wasn’t skewered. It marked an indent on her upper thigh where someone had taken a chunk out of her. Another came to touch her hand, a massive gash where she had been caught by Sanguine’s straight razor. That scar was the worst of them, a crooked, sinuous line where all the others were just slight silvery marks. Shadows touched other marks one by one and connected there until she looked like a knot in a tangle of black yarn. 

“I get hurt sometimes. It just happens. That’s why I’m Valkyrie Cain, remember? Always raising cain.” 

The shadows melted away. They slipped down her body and vaporised as they hit the floor. 

Vile lifted her hand from her chest. It came to rest under her chin. He tilted her head back and he leaned in. His head tilted to the side. Her lips met the cold form of his face guard. 

“Oh” She breathed, when he pulled back slightly. Her breath misted between them. 

“That was unexpected.” 

Her heart was jackhammering in her chest. Vile was so close, and still as a statue. That mask was completely unreadable. He was waiting for her to do something. Valkyrie was waiting for *herself* to do something. 

Where had logic gone? Was it on a surprise vacation to visit its long-forgotten friend, normalcy? Caution hadn’t left, but it was beating at the window, completely ignored as Valkyrie found herself returning the kiss. A kiss which only deepened. 

It didn’t bother her that he couldn’t kiss her in the way that people that were made of flesh could. He didn’t nip at her lips, or pant desperate words between ministrations. He showed his affection in other ways. 

Sharp fingers traced lines down her back with just enough pressure to make her gasp. Mock kisses were carefully placed, freezing cold at sensitive points like her inner wrist and the pulse point of her neck. Tendrils of shadow crept up her ankles and rose high enough to tickle her inner thigh before melting back to their source. When he dipped down to grab her by the back of the knees she didn’t protest. She looped her arms around his neck and let herself be lifted and carried to the bed. 

The sun had disappeared completely now and it was difficult to see much at all, let alone a man made of shadow in a dark room. Valkyrie shut her eyes and let her hands experience what her eyes could not. 

She touched experimentally at Vile’s side. Her fingertips only brushed his cold exterior, but she felt the darkness there quiver. Was he ticklish? Valkyrie smirked against Vile’s neck. She tried again, purposefully light. There was a shiver of a feeling beneath her touch. Vile’s hands tightened roughly on her waist. Valkyrie laughed. 

“I can’t believe you’re that sensitive. Legitimately having trouble believing it.” She said through a smirk, playful despite herself.

Vile pushed her onto her back. He washed a wave of cold shadow over her in place of a rebuttal. The sharp breath she was forced to take cut off any further smart remarks. 

“Now that’s just unfair!” She gasped and grabbed him roughly to drag him down to her. When she plunged her hands into the shadows they leaped at her in response, hugging her arms elbow deep. 

Kneeling over her, Vile was becoming much more bold. His touches liked to start at her neck, then flow down her body, grazing her chest and stomach and coming to rest on her thighs, where they gripped hard. 

A hand on her breast provoked a sigh from her. She ran a hand through her hair and let herself enjoy the sensations. His forehead resting on her shoulder felt sturdy, secure. His hands on her thigh even felt less cold to the touch.

And so did his sides. 

Valkyrie’s stomach dropped. 

“Skulduggery?”

The hands on her thighs stopped their roaming. Suddenly they pulled away from her, like he’d been burnt.

Valkyrie scrambled for her nightstand, fumbled for the lamp. It flickered on. That warm yellow light reflected off a bleached white skull. 

“Ah.” His smooth voice noted. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

She stared at him with wide eyes. Shook her head minutely.

“Ah,” he repeated “That’s not good.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note the rating change *eyes emoji*
> 
> Probably only one small chapter after this.

Valkyrie tried to swallow down the painful lump in her throat. She flushed hot with embarrassment and clawed for the sheet that had been cast to the floor. She clutched it to her chest with white knuckles. 

She tried to say something, anything, but the words stuck painfully in her throat. 

Skulduggery untangled himself from her quickly. In no time at all he was standing next to her bed, straightening his shirt and re-tying his tie. Valkyrie wasn’t certain when it had come loose. Skulduggery cleared his throat. 

“I bet that sheet is cold.” He noted, emotionless.

It was. Almost like the memory of Vile’s presence still lingered around her. Clung to her. Protective. 

“Valkyrie, not for the first time your choice in partner is… disturbing.”

“Excuse me?” 

Now she flushed hot for a different reason. Her fists clenched. Surely he wasn’t speaking of Caelen? How could he bring that up like the circumstances were the same? How dare he? She had been an idiot teenager, bored by the everyday, seduced by danger. Now she’d kill to have the everyday back. They both knew it, they’d both grown past her poor choices. Or so she thought. That old barb stung in bold new ways. 

Now she was wiser. She’d experienced more. The things that she wanted were different now, and anything resembling the relationship she had with Caelen? She certainly didn’t want that. And if she wanted Vile? Lord Vile wasn’t a depraved vampire. He wasn’t obsessed with her without knowing her. He wasn’t the same. He was…. He was Skulduggery. 

Valkyrie trembled with anger, and with thoughts that she couldn’t bare to express. Instead she took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly.

“You actually came on to me” She hissed through tight teeth. 

“I did?”

“Uh, obviously! Do you really think I’m out here seducing Lord Vile? In my own room? I’m not as depraved as you. My hobbies are much more constructive.”

“You were certainly doing something up here.”

She saw white hot anger. She noticed her hands held crackling sparks. The magic itched to be released, to destroy and hurt. She let them go dull with a huff. Skulduggery gave a haughty head tilt, egging her on. She wanted to hurt him. But she wouldn’t, would never. So she smacked him. 

“If I wasn’t half naked right now I would kick your ass! What’s wrong with you?”

“I’d like to see that” He rumbled. 

Valkyrie went red. She smacked him again. 

“Be serious!” 

“A lot is wrong with me Valkyrie.” 

The way he said it gave her pause. He sounded morose. Hollow. The situation they’d found themselves in was ridiculous and terrifying, and not at all deserving of the level of self hatred that echoed from his ribcage. 

“Skulduggery,” she said, quieter. “What’s going on with you?”

Skulduggery glanced at the window.

“The urge to fly away right now is a strong one.”

“That doesn’t inspire confidence. Now I’m seriously worried.”

Skulduggery turned to the window. He looked back at Valkyrie. He slowly slid his right foot behind him, like he was preparing for a sprint. His knees bent fractionally. 

“Don’t you dare.”

“I’m going to get forced into this conversation later even if I leave right now, aren’t I?”

Valkyrie raised her eyebrows.

“Oh god is it that serious?”

“Excellent” He said, brightly. “Well, I’ll see you when you find me.” And he leapt for the window. 

“Hey!” She yelled, and lunged for his arm. “Get your ass back here! I’ll shoot you out of the sky, I swear.”

Skulduggery was faster, but Valkyrie was prepared. She missed his arm but her fingers closed around the hem of his jacket. She cut his movement to an abrupt halt and she hauled him back towards her. 

She pulled him back to the bed. Yanked him down and forced him to sit. His joints bent grudgingly, tense, like snapping twigs.

“We’re doing this now.”

“I just remembered I have somewhere I need to be. Look, my phone’s getting a call.”

“No it isn’t,” She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I’m worried now. You need to tell me what’s wrong.”

Skulduggery took a moment, sighed. Nodded. He took off his hat and held it in his hands. 

“Well. What’s wrong with me? Let’s see. Where should I start?”

“When you were born?”

She said it lightly, a playful smile lurking just below the surface of her genuine concern. 

Skulduggery didn’t answer with a clever quip. He just stared blankly at the floor. The distance between them was meagre, but he felt so far away. He could have been in a different room.

“I’m really not sure where to begin.”

“Alright. Why was Lord Vile in my bedroom?”

Surprisingly, Skulduggery shuffled his hat.

“Valkyrie I would appreciate it if the question had a narrower scope. You’re really asking two questions. Three questions. In any case, definitely more than one. It has multiple tiers.”

“Alright,” She said slowly, “Why is Lord Vile back?”

He nodded at her. A much better question then. Simpler. He nodded a little too long.

“I am trying to integrate Lord Vile back into my personality.”

What? She thought.

“What?” She blurted. “Why?”

“Because he is a threat.”

“Did something happen? Like a prophecy or… or you found out you’d been separated for too long and you were going to keep splitting into pieces and eventually explode or…?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Skulduggery why are you poking the bear? Thats crazy!”

He put the hat down beside him and clasped his hands together.

“Because there is a bear there to poke.”

“You’re bored.”

He turned to her. 

“I’m not bored. I’m being clever.”

“Ghastly said that after the war you’d go looking for fights. Are you sure that’s not what you’re doing?”

“It isn’t boredom that’s motivating me.”

“What is?”

“You.”

Valkyrie’s breath caught in her throat. She blinked. 

“I…. don’t get it.”

Skulduggery sighed. 

“I may have been trying to…. act like a responsible person. Perhaps somewhat proactive. A little bit like an adult.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Doesn’t it? Responsibility is terribly boring. But with you away I had a lot of time to think. So I did a lot of thinking.”

“I thought about Darquesse and how we dealt with it. How you dealt with it, mostly, what you were forced to do. But also what I did, or didn’t do.”

“I wondered if it was maybe my fault that things got so… out of hand. Maybe we could have done something before it all went to hell if we weren’t so distracted by disaster after world ending disaster.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Skulduggery. Darquesse…”

“Valkyrie, I’ve always treated you like an adult, but you were a child. I was in charge of keeping you safe. I am responsible too.”

She managed a sad smile. She knew the idea of him seeing her as any less than an equal would have riled her up once. She had always prided herself on being capable. Now she had a new perspective. Immaturity didn’t have much to do with being capable. It was just a lack of experience. A lack of a stable foundation to whether the storm. It was why when she fell, she fell hard. 

She didn’t feel angry about him seeing her as she was when she first became Darquesse. She was a teenager then, with far too much on her shoulders. 

“It was….. a lot.” 

“A lot,” He agreed, “For anyone.” 

“So Lord Vile?”

“I’m trying to divert a future disaster so you don’t need to.”

She hummed, mulled it over. She supposed it could work. Though, a solution that didn’t require them back to back, beating the enemy into submission? With their track record it felt unlikely. 

“That doesn’t really explain why he was in my bedroom.” 

“Right you are.”

Valkyrie scowled at him. 

“Well are you going to explain that?”

“Not if I don’t have to.” 

Valkyrie huffed, but Skulduggery didn’t go on. They sat in silence on her bed, her with a sheet still wrapped around her torso and him with his hands on his knees and back ramrod straight. 

Then she noticed a coil of shadow begin to uncurl from under Skulduggery’s shirt. Valkyrie stared as it slipped slowly towards her. The cold tendril touched her hand where it rested on the bed. It trickled between her fingers to rest in her palm. A thought occurred to Valkyrie. Her heart staggered, then sprinted. 

“So you’re integrating Vile back into your personality?” She asked and hoped he didn’t notice that her voice had jumped an octave. 

“With help. Until now I didn’t know if it was working.”

“So the idea is to kind of…. smoosh you both back together.”

“If you’re looking to describe it ineloquently, I suppose I’m smooshing.”

“And you’d eventually feel some of what Vile feels?”

“You don’t need to worry. It’s something that I can deal with.”

“And Vile would feel some of what you feel.” 

Skulduggery turned to her slowly. He tilted his head in what she knew would have been a frown. She couldn’t help it. Her fingers twitched. He glanced down and immediately jerked back. Valkyrie flinched away, like she’d been caught holding hands underneath the table. Oh god, is that what was happening? 

Skulduggery stood. He backed away to the opposite side of the room, but his shadow fought him. It stretched towards Valkyrie, lapped at her feet like a wave. It coiled around her ankles, wrapping up and receding in an undulating pattern.

“Well.” He said “I think it might be time for me to go.” 

He made to step toward the door. The shadows shot back and rooted him to the ground. He pulled, but the tendrils wrapped around his legs and yanked his foot back. Skulduggery cursed, and struggled against the shadows. He made to flex his fingers to summon wind beneath his feet. It buffeted against the darkness but the coils of black only grew angrier. 

“Skulduggery! Don’t blow my things around!” 

Skulduggery looked up. His shoulders slumped. He stopped fighting and so did the shadows. 

Valkyrie pulled the sheet to her chest and stood. It trailed behind her as she approached him. The shadows pooled to meet her feet with every step. They caressed her ankles and toyed with the tail of the trailing sheet. She met him face to face. Valkyrie bit her lip.

“I’m sorry” He sighed, “This shouldn’t be happening.”

“Why not?”

“I should not have poked the bear.”

His words sounded regretful, but the shadows plucked at her. A tendril wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. They swirled around the pair of them, a slow tornado of black strips. 

“So this isn’t what you want?”

“I shouldn’t have put you through this.”

“But what if it’s what I want?”

The shadows stopped mid air. 

“Is it?”

“You’re such a goon.” Valkyrie chuckled, and put a hand on his tie.

Then she yanked him down and kissed him.

Soft lips met teeth and she smiled against them. She breathed in his smell. His freshly laundered shirt, the cologne she’d gifted him the previous Christmas (because the logo was a skull), and the leather care products he religiously applied to the Bentley. She enjoyed them all while rubbing the silk tie between her fingers. She waited for his answering kiss. It never came. 

Skulduggery stood frozen. Valkyrie stopped smiling. She pulled back to look at him, a frown furrowing her brow. She saw nothing but a blank skull.

Heat rose up from her stomach. When it got to her throat it choked her. It battered in her ear drums and made her eyes itch and burn. It was suddenly very hard to breathe.

“Oh. Oh god I misunderstood. I thought-“

Valkyrie took a step back. Shadows dove at her from all directions. She yelped as they grabbed her, pushed her, and she tumbled forward. 

Skulduggery’s arms caught her. His hands settled at the small of her back. The cold darkness pushed incessantly against her, putting her flush against his body. The ridges of his bones pressed against her through his clothes. They were hard against her bare skin. When had her sheet fallen? She thought she felt those tendrils dragging it away. 

“Valkyrie” He said.

The word echoed strangely. It was Skulduggery’s voice, but also Vile’s. Not layered over itself, but ripped between the two. 

Shadows rippled over his skull in shreds. They scurried in and out of his collar. She felt them bulge and write beneath his shirt.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m beginning to think not.”

“What’s happening? What’s Vile doing?”

“He’s being annoyingly pushy. In effect, he’s threatening to take over if I don’t do what he wants. I don’t appreciate being threatened.”

“What do we do?”

“Well, there’s three options. The first, in which I let Vile out to do whatever he desires. The second, where I fight him off, which could get very messy and would certainly destroy your bedroom. And the third, where I do something incredibly dangerous.”

“Vile hasn’t been violent lately. The first option sounds the safest for my belongings.”

“And it would be, but I don’t want to take option one.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want his claws on you.”

His voice held a note of protectiveness that sent a shiver up her spine as he held her in his arms. 

The patches of shadows coursing over and inside of Skulduggery were growing rabid. They clawed between his teeth and smoked from his eye sockets. 

“So which is it going to be? Two or three? I don’t think we have much time.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Pick one! Messy or dangerous?” 

He stood dumbfounded. Valkyrie started to panic. Only slashes of pale skull cut through the black that coursed over his bones. 

“Skulduggery! Two or three? Messy or dangerous?”

“Dangerous.” He said.

He swooped down to kiss her. 

Her lips met pale teeth. The shadows fled from their touch. Valkyrie’s mind reeled but her hands moved on their own to reach up to cradle his cheeks. Cold black enveloped her up to her wrists. And then long gloved hands replaced them and the shadows thinned. They crept up her forearms, closely followed by Skulduggery’s trailing fingers. He followed the path of the cold tendrils to her shoulders, caught up with the touch as he palmed her bare shoulder blade. He briefly kneaded a knot from her neck muscles and she breathed a happy sigh into his shoulder. 

Valkyrie could predict the path of Skulduggery’s affection through Vile’s icy caresses. Whenever his attention shifted she felt her skin grow cold. An icy touch trickled down her back, then gloved hands smoothed it warm. A whisp of cool at her waist made her shiver, then Skulduggery’s grip at her hip made her burn hot. It was a delightful contrast that made her tremble with anticipation. 

Shadow tickled along her ribs. They hooked under the wire of her bra. Skulduggery stilled. 

“Is this okay?” He murmured, suddenly uncertain. The shadows wavered. Grew prickly with concern, then sharp with dreadful regret. His hands left her body to hover just above her skin. Valkyrie felt a light breeze caress her. Was he sensing her with the air even as he tried to put distance between them?

“Skulduggery,” Valkyrie sighed. “I want you.”

She held his head tenderly, kissed along his jaw bone. The exhalation that left Skulduggery held a hint of something else. Experimentally ran her tongue up the vertebrae of his neck. 

“Did you just whimper?”

“I don’t whimper.” Skulduggery replied raggedly. He sounded out of breath, despite not needing to breathe. 

“I think you might.” She said through a smirk. She brushed her fingers ever so lightly up the back of his neck. “There it was again.”

She felt the cold on her ass moments before the smack of his hand. It didn’t stop her from jumping, or the moan that escaped her lips. 

“Oh, Valkyrie” He rumbled into her ear while nipping along the side of her neck. “I can think of any number of reasons why this is a terrible idea.”

“So we’re going to ignore all of them and do whatever we want like usual, right?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Great. I’m glad we’re doing whatever I want to do. ”

Skulduggery chuckled. He cupped her ass with both hands. At first gentle, hesitant, then with a bold roughness.

“You don’t know the things I would do for you.” He rumbled.

Valkyrie’s cheeks went pink. 

“Now that’s just unfair. You don’t get to say things like that, with that voice, when your hands are on me and I’m dressed like this!” 

“Am I going too fast? We can slow it down. I’ll go get you a new shirt.”

“Please don’t.”

“No?”

His thumbs traced teasing circles on her hip bones. Valkyrie felt like she was going to jump out of her skin. 

“Hey, you said something earlier. Something about if this was all a dream. Have you dreamed of me before?”

“I don’t sleep, Valkyrie.”

“Oh.” She said, a little disappointed.

“But I do fantasise sometimes while I meditate. Vividly.”

“I thought meditating was thinking of nothing at all?”

“Occasionally I get distracted.”

“So you found me distracting?”

“Dangerously.” He purred. 

“So what did we do in your fantasies?”

“Oh, this and that.” He said, rubbing an experimental finger or two against her underwear. Valkyrie leant into his touch. She bit her lip, tried to keep her head. She tried to admonish him for being so vague, but the words got lost somewhere between him slipping his fingers inside and her resulting moan. His chuckle was deep and rumbling, and sent an electric shiver down to her base. 

“Did it ever feature your facade?” She managed somehow between squeaks of pleasure. She needed to pull herself together. She was going somewhere with this, a part of her knew it. 

“Occasionally.” 

Valkyrie found herself momentarily distracted. She rolled her hips to his rhythm, hungry for any additional traction. Soon she was panting into his shoulder, clutching at his lapels. Was she gasping his name? Asking for more? Her knees felt like jelly. She realised he was practically holding her up with his other hand. 

“Your facade has a tongue right?”

“It might.”

“You are infuriating. You know that?”

“I do.”

She growled and dug her fingers into his lapels. It might have been intimidating if he wasn’t making her gasp and squirm. 

“But it does.” 

“Well?”

“So bossy. I remember you being much more polite.”

“I don’t.” She complained as he shifted his attention to picking her up. It was the same as the way Vile had, hands behind the knees, her arms around his neck. He carried her dutifully to the bed, then threw her onto it. She landed in a tangle of limbs, laughing. 

He knelt beside the bed. He grabbed her by the thighs and pulled her towards him. 

He stopped. 

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

“God, Skulduggery, yes! I want this so bad I was keen to bone down on your shadow. I’m all in. Is it what you want? You better not just be asking me because you’re trying to back out and you’re hoping I’ll fold first. Because I think we burned that bridge about 5 minutes ago.”

In response he tapped the sigils on his collarbones. A sharp face flowed over him, a handsome one with curling red hair. Skulduggery smiled rakishly. 

Valkyrie managed an answering grin despite her beet red cheeks. That composed expression didn’t last long. 

Skulduggery saw to that.


	9. Chapter 9

True to his word, Skulduggery did whatever Valkyrie wanted them to do. 

So he found himself humming the last few bars of Me and Mrs Jones while he combed his fingers through her hair. Her head rested on his chest, her long hair tumbled across his white shirt. Darker than any shadow. Her soft snores paused only briefly for her to snuffle and bury deeper into a more comfortable position.

He knew how long it had been since she’d found a good sleep. It warmed his empty heart with a hollow memory of quiet joy that she’d found it with him. He tried to ignore the part of him that panicked. Panicked because he was all too aware of how many nights she’d gone without sleep, and how he knew the exact number. Panicked because he felt a horrible heart-wrenching guilt that wracked him here in the quiet. Panicked that things could never go back to the way they were and would only change further. That terrifying thought that because he had her now in this way it meant he would surely lose her. One way or another. 

There was no basking in the afterglow for Skulduggery. Just a roaring in his skull. 

He wanted to pull her close to him, to clutch her and press her to himself hard enough to push the air from her lungs. Crush her to him. His chest cavity hurt with the need to be close. So he could whisper to her to never leave, how much he needed her by his side. Let her know how much he loved her. 

But he let her sleep. Because she needed it. Because she needed things, and he didn’t, not really. If she needed him to lie still and watch over her while tangling his gloved fingers through her beautiful hair, he would do that. Anything that Valkyrie Cain wanted. 

“Stop it.” He growled to the darkness, voice low.

The darkness jerked back. 

“Don’t touch her.”

Those traitorous black tendrils receded from their prize, from tangling in her locks and caressing her shoulder. He knew, deep inside, that if he let them continue they’d carry out those dark desires. He would hurt her. 

“I don’t appreciate what you’ve done. It wasn’t your decision.” 

The roaring in his skull took on a different tenor. Skulduggery shook his head to clear it, but the roar only grew more insistent.

“I appreciate that you disagree. But you’re wrong. She doesn’t belong with us – Me.” He corrected, “She doesn’t belong with me.”

The noise became a physical rush, ice cold substances broiling inside of his skull cavity. It battered against his ribs and gnawed at his bones. Darkness flooded over his face, clawing at him. It was all he could do not to cry out in distress. 

“Get back inside!” 

The shadows arced up, sharp. They swivelled and dove for Valkyrie. Skulduggery reached into that dark part of himself to pull them back. His own necromancy wrestled against Vile’s and the shadows gradually lurched away from her sleeping form. But they didn’t disappear. They crept back under his dress shirt and rolled over his skeleton. He clenched his fists to crush the shadows to mist, but they resisted. 

He could stay himself, or protect Valkyrie. Not both. 

“At least let her sleep” He gasped before being overrun completely.

The cold enveloped him and settled around him like a subtly undulating exoskeleton. 

Vile looked down at Valkyrie. 

For a long moment he just watched. She slept, unaware of the criminal that had bled from inside her friend, now staring at her. Studying her every breath, noting the tiny noises she made as she dreamt. His black appendages played with her hair like a cat with a toy, then grew bored and stilled. He went back to his quiet watching. 

Eventually, tentatively, he reached out a hand. His hand was sharp, and void-like black. Just his proximity seemed to suck the colour from her skin. 

A single gauntleted finger traced a line down her cheek. 

Valkyrie shivered. She whimpered in her sleep, and frowned. 

Vile stopped. Withdrew his hand. Stared at it.

The shadows melted from Skulduggery as suddenly as they appeared, leaving the Skeleton staring at his hand.

“Serves you right.” He murmured. He brushed a loose strand of black from Valkyrie’s face, tucked it gently behind her ear. She sighed contentedly in her sleep and resumed her soft snores. 

Skulduggery lay there, soothing her, until the soft morning sun warmed his tired bones. 

Until the midday sun eventually woke Valkyrie and she complained about being sweaty and hot, and he obligingly guided in a cool breeze. Because even if she didn’t say so outright, it’s what she wanted. 

Anything for Valkyrie Cain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading. Like I said, I don't write often. This is easily the first thing I've written that others have seen in a couple of years. If you enjoyed it even a little bit you've made me very happy. 
> 
> I do plan to do more SP at some point in the future.   
> In the mean time please enjoy this absolutely rad picture I drew of skulduggery shredding on the electric guitar.  
> https://66.media.tumblr.com/b3932c831e2b01c590cd856fe396aa8e/tumblr_pjp7pypMVB1qcwz4ro1_1280.png


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